Red II
by nomadic725
Summary: The sequel to Red: After being under constant attack, the Varden sends their best spy to get infromation out of Murtagh to try to find the 'weak link in the armor.' But will she be able to betray the man she owes her life to?
1. The Acceptance

Nomadic: Hey guys…sorry I've been AWOL for, well, ever. Jeez, I haven't even read a fanfiction in a short eternity. I looked at my account for the first time since last millennia and saw the word _one shot. _I was like 'what the crap is a one shot?' Yeah. It's that bad. But I've been meaning to write the Red sequel for a long time now so I'm trying to get back into the fanfiction beat. Go easy on me.

Murtagh: Oh, look who finally decided to show up, Thorn.

Thorn: _Oh if it isn't _you.

Nomadic: Uh…hey guys?

Murtagh&Thorn: We are this close to killing you right now.

Nomadic: *gulp*

* * *

"Ya want me to _what?_" Ska demanded of her friend.

"You are fully capable of doing this. It shall be fine. I promise you," Nasuada spoke calmly.

"This is insane m'friend. Absolutely out of the question."

Eragon snickered in the corner.

"And I don't need any comment from _you_ dragon boy. He's your cousin or brother or whatever the hell he is," Ska spat.

Eragon fell silent under her gaze, knowing that the spy was not a force to be reckoned with.

The three sat in Nasuada's tent, cross-legged on the coiled rug that Asjihad had given Nasuada when she was eighteen. Due to limited Varden resources, the three were sharing a dinner of boiled tree bark. It was disgusting and too chewy for human teeth, but it did fill the stomach.

Eragon swallowed another piece of bark. His eyes widened and he began heaving and coughing.

Nasuada wacked the dragon rider on the back firmly with her hand and the bark dislodged, propelling out of his throat, narrowly missing Ska, and landing with a wet splat on the side of the tent. It stuck then slowly slid down with the help of the saliva covering it.

"That's the second time I've saved your life this evening, Eragon," Nasuada said calmly. "Try to chew your food more."

Eragon turned a peculiar shade of pink, drawing a chuckle from Ska. The dragon rider quickly shot a glare towards the sound.

"Murtagh likes you," Nasuada stated.

Ska started, "Well, we don't exactly know that for certain—"

"And there has to be a 'weak link in the armor' so to speak. There has to be something that will give us the advantage."

"Well, agreed…"

"And you can get him to tell you what that is, Ska."

There was a silent pause.

"This is a horrible idea," Ska responded, selecting another slice of bark. She attempted to rip it apart a little before putting it in her mouth. Her jaw already ached from all the chewing and she had only eaten three pieces.

Nasuada sighed. Eragon stuffed his face with more bark.

"Say I did think this idea could possibly work," Ska asked, mouth full, "what's the exact plan?"

"There is no risk. You can abandon the mission whenever you wanted," Eragon began. "Here's what we'd have you do…"

Eragon explained the con, complete with extravagant hand gestures and a few tips on how to do Ska's job, which she found quite annoying. Eragon was nearing the end of the scheme when Arya's face stuck through the leather tent's flap.

"Excuse me m'lady," she gave a small head bow to Nasuada, "my apologies. Scouts report that Murtagh and Thorn attacked the lower Northern Peninsula. Three small Varden-supporting towns and one city were destroyed."

Nasuada, open mouthed, glanced and Ska and Eragon. They likewise had looks of shock imprinted on their faces from the news.

"Thank you Arya," Nasuada whispered. The elf nodded towards her and disappeared behind the door.

The truth was, Ska didn't want to betray Murtagh in Eragon's plan because she liked him. He had saved her life. She owed him. This news brought her back to Alegasia. She remembered where her loyalty lied and who is the enemy.

"I'll do it. Let's go now. I'll do it now," Ska spoke up, disturbing the silence.

Eragon raised his eyebrows.

"I'll backstab that bastard well. He earned this. C'mon Eragon. Let's go find someone for your 'phase one' or whatever you called it."

Ska hopped up and exited the tent. Eragon followed her silently outside. Nasuada was left alone in the lamplight with only Eragon's slimy projectile that still was sliding down the tent side as company.


	2. Phase One: The Journey

_Ska darted through the black winter forest, arms outstretched, not knowing what she was running towards. She had escaped the ship and Captain Yaln, but by doing so had killed a man. Surly, his crew would be out looking to avenge the one who's life was ended by her hand. She didn't know what she was running towards, only that she needed to run away from that gruesome scene._

_ She was still wet with the man's blood, but she could feel it freezing onto her skin. Or drying, maybe. Is blood just as insignificant as water that it freezes? She didn't know. She didn't want to. She just wanted the stuff off her body._

_ When she had run through the woods near the orphanage, she had met up with hummingbird kings, gnomes, and fairies. Now, none of them showed up to help her. Her imagination, her very mind had abandoned her._

_ And from that night on, the little girl's innocence was lost. _

* * *

Thump.

Thump. Bump. Twack.

"What? Are we riding over frickn' bodies?" Ska demanded from inside the carriage.

"It is not anything miss," the driver responded.

Thump. Bump. Twack. Bump. Thump. Bump. Twack.

"Knightly!"

"I am sorry, miss."

Twack. Twack. Bump. Thump. Thump. Tip.

The carriage landed with a crash on its side. The side door flung open and Ska hauled herself out. Knightly was moaning on the dirt road. In the confusion, the horse appeared to have been so startled that he ran off into the forest.

Ska clambered over to him and offered him a hand up. She herself couldn't have weighed more than one hundred pounds so to try to lift the massive man up would be futile. It was more of a gesture thing.

Knightly made it to his feet and the two surveyed the damage. Ska saw the culprit of the tipping. A small army of large, sharp rocks pierced up through the dirt road. One of these said rocks had split a carriage wooden wheel in two.

"Well, that's unfortunate," Ska remarked.

Knightly sighed and gathered the two pieces. He seemed to be willing them to meld back together. It wasn't working.

"On foot then? I've never been one for carriages anyway. It's a new age. Women can ride horses now."

Knightly rolled his eyes at her attempt to lighten the moment. "The whole point of the carriage was to keep you hidden in case Murtagh were to see you too early."

"We'll be careful."

"Your bright red hair is as good as a smoke signal. You could see it a mile away."

"Hey now. Take a deep breath. In. Out. In. Out. In…"

Knightly shot her a glare.

"Okay! Give me your vest."

"But—"

"Hand it over."

Knightly complied reluctantly. A vest for such a large man was more than enough material to make a head covering. Ska tied her long hair up and wrapped the black vest over it.

"See? No more blazing red hair."

"Would have been easier to just shave it off."

"Oh, you think you're funny, don't ya?"

"On most occasions, yes, miss."

Ska laughed aloud at that and started heading down the path. Knightly followed. Ska calculated in her head:

_It's one hundred thirty six and a half leagues from the Varden to Montegue, the city where we have heard Murtagh is heading to meet with some army recruits. We've traveled ninty nine and three quarters. With my height and Knightly's weight, it will take about an hour and twenty minutes to walk one league. So that's 136.5 leauges minues 99.75 leagues is 36.75 leagues left to go. 36.75 leagues times eighty minutes is…2940 minutes divided by sixty minutes in an hour…forty nine hours are you frickn' kidding me?_

"We've got a long walk," Ska muttered.

"How long?"

"'Bout forty nine hours."

"Oh, joy. That's one more day that we don't have to spare. Murtagh could be gone by that time."

"Oh, Knightly, always the pessimist."

Ska began bouncing on her feet. Knightly gave her a questioning look.

"C'mon, Knightly. Get that blood pumping. Get that heart rate up. Get excited. We're going for a jog!"

"Oh, no, miss."

"Oh, Knightly! Look. If we jogged, we could make one league in about an hour and five minutes. That's 36.75 leagues left times 65 minutes…which is 2388.75 minutes…divided by sixty minutes in one hour is…31.8125 hours. Forty nine hours walking minus 31.825 hours jogging…we would save 17.179 hours!"

"You think far too much for the both of us, miss."

"Oh, c'mon, Knightly! I've run a league in twenty one minutes before. True story! Race ya there!"

Ska took off, holding the head covering down, flying along the path.

"Miss! Miss! I need to stay with you, I'm responsible for you! Miss!"

Knightly said a choice word and darted after the spy.

* * *

_There came a point when Ska just stopped running. She felt far enough away from the shore and just collapsed into a mossy pit, deep in the forest. She sobbed for a few moments of self pity for what was taken from her._

_ Maybe she was better off at that orphanage._

_ She felt so weak. So hurt. Blackness clouded her vision. The sounds of the forest seemed diluted, muffled._

Is this what dying feels like?

Maybe I'm better off dead. Or back in the orphanage.

_She contemplated her situation, though still in that foggy haze. She was in a strange land. She didn't have a single friend in the entire world. The only one she had is dead now. Avenie died to give Ska a chance at happiness. But Ska was more miserable now than she had ever been. _

_ She had traveled about twenty leagues. She saw the sun coming up and so she knew that she had been running for seven hours straight. Twenty leagues divided by seven is averaging about 2.857 leagues per hour which means she ran one league in...60 minutes divided by 2.857 leagues is 21 minutes. She ran a league in 21 minutes. Yesterday, she would have believed that to be impossible. Especially for seven hours straight._

_ She continued to do arithmetic in her head. It calmed her down and invited some stable logic into her rickety life. Slowly, ticking away with the numbers in her head, the darkness overtook her into a dreamless sleep._

* * *

Murtagh and Thorn overlooked the destroyed valley with heavy hearts.

_Are you alright? _Thorn asked.

_No. Are you?_

_ Not really._

"I hate this. I hate doing this," Murtagh said aloud.

The dragon didn't respond.

"All this attacking. And killing. And their screams. And we cannot fight it. We cannot do it. We are _puppets _to the king_. _Puppets on strings."

Thorn still didn't say a word.

Murtagh spoke softer now. "I will not let him hurt you, you know that, correct? I would do anything to stop that."

_I know._

"We head to Montegue tomorrow to meet the new recruits for the army. I suppose seeing a dragon and a rider is supposed to inspire them for battle. I forgot to tell you."

_Your mind is my mind._

"I just thought that it would be nice to formally tell you."

_Thank you, Murtagh. I think that I will…go hunt now._

The dragon took off abruptly. Murtagh knew that Thorn was upset. He could feel it, deep in his gut. Thorn was upset because he was being used as a weapon, then paraded around for a show of power. Murtagh felt the exact same way.

* * *

Nomadic: Hey, reader!

Murtagh: Sup?

Thorn: _You know what awsome people do?_

Murtagh&Nomadic: What do they do, Thorn?

Thorn: **_They REVIEW! :D_**


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